Sweet Raptured Life
by Martin Baker
Summary: Set during Voldemort's final battle in DH. A poorly aimed hex from Hermione wonds Draco fatally. DracoXHermione, songfic.
1. Chapter 1

He could see himself there, reflected in the blemishless surface of the lake

A.N.

Hello everyone! This is my first ever oneshot and my first ever songfic, so please review me! I have ideas for possible future chapters if anyone wants me to keep the story going, but updates will be rare. I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, my house would have its very own personal pop machine, swimmingpool, fitness room, and horses! Lots of horses! The song is one by Evanescence, but I don't know the title. Enjoy!

He could see himself there, reflected in the blemishless surface of the lake. Sounds of death and flying hexes rent the air as the dark starless sky seemed to press on the earth like a giant hand attempting vainly to staunch the blood of some unseen wound. Draco looked down at his own wound in faint bemusement. The hex had made a ragged gash across his stomach so deep he had to hold it closed with one hand to keep his insides from falling outside and away. Blood flowed between his fingers, crimson against the pale skin. Where was she? 

He knew he must die, but Draco wished fervently for a glimpse, a touch, a chance to tell her. He forgave her now where he stood at the lake, just as he had forgiven her then, staggering back as the hex meant for Pansy Parkinson flew astray and hit him, her lover. She had screamed, running blindly through the carnage of battle-locked figures and broken bodies, and, falteringly, he had chased her. Had she heard his footsteps following behind, seen his hand reaching for her, reaching but never touching? Draco didn't know. It hurt to run, and after a short eternity, Draco stopped, and Hermione ran on, vanishing from his sight like a beautiful and terrible dream. 

Even in the midst of his pain, Draco longed to hold her, longed to comfort her with the forgiveness only he could provide. He sighed. His love, his angel, demon, innocent murderess was all he wanted now, … 

And then she was there, running, sobbing his name as though it were a magic incantation that could free them both from this senseless tragedy. "Draco! Draco, … my god… I'm so sorry!"

((Hold on to me, love, 

You know I can't stay long,

All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid.))

His legs gave way beneath him, and Draco could feel himself falling. Hermione caught him, falling to the ground under his weight. With an effort, he turned to her, cupping her face with a blood streaked hand.

"I'm not afraid, you know," he said hoarsely "not of death."

((Can you hear me?

Can you feel me in your arms?

Holding my last breath,

Safe inside myself,

Are all my thoughts of you, 

Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.))

"How could I have been so stupid?!" she sobbed, holding tightly to him as he quickly faded. "Oh Draco, I wish I could take your place!"

"Don't—" he stopped as wracking coughs took him and he sprayed a fountain of blood. "Don't talk like that." He gently stroked her stomach, now rounded with new and innocent life. The little unborn creature kicked against his hand, and he smiled. "And Granger? You're far from stupid. You're an insufferable know-it-all, remember?"

"And yet," she said bitterly "not smart enough to perform a simple hex and make it hit its mark." Hermione buried her tearstained face in his hair.

((I'll miss the winter,

A world of fragile things,

Look for me in the wide forest hiding in a hollow tree.)"

"It wasn't your fault," Draco whispered tenderly, closing her lips with a gentle kiss before she could protest. "With all the flying curses, yours probably bounced off someone else's and—and rebounded. Don't—don't blame yourself," he implored her, his voice now but a whisper. "Hermione, please…"

As if on cue, a light snow began to fall, bright gems on her chestnut hair, cold whiteness against the warm redness that was Draco's life pouring, falling, fleeing from him. He smiled, remembering last winter when he and Hermione had finally set aside their differences and come together. They had been sixth-years then, back when the final battle with V-V-The Dark Lord was only a gloomy future reality to which each Hogwarts student save Potter thought he or she would somehow be exempt.

"I love you," she whispered, trying valiantly to keep back the wrenching sobs that threatened to break her.

"I love you too," he whispered, losing himself in the dark pools of her eyes. Dying deep in her arms and still deeper in her eyes was all he needed now. To drown in her, flow through her, would be his heaven. She was eternity, and eternity was this single moment alone by the glassy, snow-flecked lake.

((I know you hear me,

I can taste it in your tears.

Holding my last breath,

Safe inside myself,

Are all my thoughts of you,

Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.))

"Hermione," he whispered, more faintly now, "will you promise me something?"

"Anything!" she sobbed. "Just name it! Draco, I'll do anything!"

"Be strong for the baby," he whispered, eyes softening. "He or she needs you. The world goes on. Winters, springs, life moves ever forward, and, dearest, you must move with it. Raise the child of our love, and someday, when you're ready, I want you to love again."

((Closing your eyes to disappear,

You pray your dreams will leave you hear,

But still you wake and know the truth,

No one's there.

Say goodnight,

Don't be afraid,

Calling me, calling me as you fade.))

"I promise," she said brokenly. "Oh Draco, I'll give the baby all I can, but you are the love of my life! I can't move on, not from you."

"Oh, you say that now," his arms about her waist squeezed reassuringly "but if someday you fall in love, know that I don't blame you."

"I'll miss you." Her voice was coming from far away now, echoing and distant. 

"I'll miss you too," he whispered into the void of life and death separating them. Hermione pressed her lips to his, and Draco fell into the kiss, giving it all his remaining strength. "I'll always be with you," he said at last and spoke no more.

Across the grounds of Hogwarts, the wind was full of the cries of death and unquenchable grief. More screams were added to the collective orchestra of despair. The screams were Hermione's.

((Holding my last breath,

Safe inside myself,

Are all my thoughts of you,

Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.

Sweet raptured life, it ends here tonight.))

FIN


	2. Chapter 2

Tears streamed down Hermione's face as she held Draco's lifeless body in her arms

A.N.

Hello again, everyone! Okay, I know I said this was going to be a one-shot, but I just couldn't resist writing another chapter to it! I don't own Harry Potter. The song for this chapter is Hello by Evenescence. Nope, I don't own that either. I would like to thank all my reviewers. You guys are wonderful!

Mireille, you know I love ya! I'll email you soon, and keep working hard in college.

Cherish Aless Treasure, you are a very talented author, and I can't wait to see more of your work.

Draco'sPhoenix16, my very very first reviewer on this story, thank you thank you thank you! You made me want to write another chapter.

((Playground schoolbell rings again,

Rainclouds come to play again,

Has noone told you he's not breathing?

Hello, I'm your mind giving you someone to talk to,

Hello.))

Tears streamed down Hermione's face as she held Draco's lifeless body in her arms. She had screamed until no screams remained, sobbed until the sobs became wet whistling sounds, and still sobbed until her voice faded in to raw, painfull silence. He was gone, dead, killed by her own stupidity, and now all she had left were the memories, the agony, and this deep dark emptiness. She hadn't meant to kill him, hadn't meant to rob their unborn child of a father, his parents of a son, and herself of the only real love she had ever known.

Draco had come to her when all of life seemed dark and hopeless, and with a kiss, he had made it bright and vivid once again. Draco had always said Hermione had done the same for him, but she never understood how. All she could do was love the boy he had been, the man he was, and the wizard he would be. They had so many plans, so many dreams of a bright future together. Now those dreams were dashed, the bright and endless future extinguished, snuffed out like the flame of a candle.

"Two figures stepped from the shadows, and Hermione froze. She recognized the tall elegant man with the serpentine staff and the curvacious woman who looked as though she had been carved from ice. They were Lucious and Narcissa Malfoy, and now, she was sure they would kill her, sure they must know she had deprived their only son of life.

"Filthy mudblood," Lucius spoke coldly. "Leave him."

"Kill me!" she wanted to shout, but the child within her, Draco's child stilled her tongue. Kissing his lips one last time, Hermione laid him gently on the ground, stood, and ran.

((If I smile and don't believe,

Soon I know I'll wake from this dream,

Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken,

Hello, I'm the lie,

Living for you so you can hide, don't cry.))

"She loved him," Narcissa said absently, fingering the silver crescent she wore about her neck. "Our little boy had someone who loved him."

"Let us not speak of it," Lucius said abruptly. "It is bad enough our son and heir is dead. We need not remember him being lusted after by mudbloods."

"Let him stay dead, Lucius," Narcissa said imploringly. "Lucius, please. Don't condemn him as we were condemned."

"This is no condemnation!" His voice softened menacingly, and the woman backed away. "It is imortality, supremacy over all that breathes and all that dies." The back of his right hand met with her mouth, knocking her to the ground. "We are as the stones, Narcissa, as the sky! We are eternal, unmatched, invincible. Don't you see?" She nodded, still prostrate at his feet, and Lucius bent to help her stand. "Why do you make me hurt you?" he asked. "Ah well. I suppose it doesn't matter. Now, I must do what needs done. I must make Draco one of us, a vampire."

"Draco isn't made for the life we lead," Narcissa began timidly. "Perhaps if we had another child…"

"IDIOT!!" Lucius swung the head of his staff in a wide ark, slamming it across the woman's skull. Blood, bone and brain exploded skyward as her body once again took its place at his feet. He supposed such a blow would have been deadly had they been mortal, but, as it was, he could hurt his beautiful Narcissa in so many new and unheard of ways now that immortality was theirs. Very soon now, Draco would open his eyes, those blue-gray orbs so like his father and grandfather's before him, and see the world through the eyes of an immortal. This was the life he was destined for! This was the life for which all Malfoys were destined, and Lucius was glad he had it in his grasp to give his son and heir this priceless gift.

Turning from the woman at his feet, Lucius bent, lifted his son and stood. His movements flowed with an easy grace, and one watching him might have thought Draco weighed nothing at all. Lucius looked down, sneering at his reflection in the lake. The reflection sneered back, watery robes swirling about it as its owners did, moved by a gentle wind. Slowly, almost tenderly, he began rocking from side to side, lowering his face to the boys neck, and devouring him.

((Suddenly, I know I'm not sleeping,

Hello, I'm still here,

All that's left of yesterday.))

He remembered dying. He remembered her warm tears falling on his cold flesh and the pounding of blood, that most vital of rivers, as it rushed from him. He remembered each snowflake, each moonbeam that touched him, and he could still feel the thirsty inhalation of what he knew would be his last breath. Then the darkness came and all was still. This was death. This was the end of everything, and yet, he again felt the brush of snow on his skin, hear the gentle lapping of the lake. He was aware of movement, of arms around him as he was rocked from side to side.

Draco remembered being rocked this way when he was a small child. Lucius would stand, swaying with his sleepless son until his eyes grew heavy and his breathing became deep and even. How familiar this was, and yet, how alien. Along with the peace of arms and gentle motion, Draco was conscious of a growing and terrible thirst. What was happening to him? He could not open his eyes, could not see the one who held him or the needles puncturing the skin of his neck. He wondered at them, cold, sharp, but painless. …

And then they were gone, smoothly unsheathed from his flesh, and the arms were drawing him close. "Drink, my son," an all too familiar voice urged him. "Immerse yourself in the whine of immortality."

Imortality? So he was dead. He had to be, for no living person offered another eternal life. His lips brushed against something soft and wet, and the liquid assailing his tongue tasted oddly of--blood? He recoiled, pushing against the unseen man who held him. A firm but gentle hand pushed his head back to the warm wet opening, holding it in place. The need consumed him. Rising from thirst, drowning in blood, Draco took his fill, drinking until color returned to the world and his blind eyes saw everything, drinking until the hand pulled his head back and away.

"Perfect," Father said, his voice purring with satisfaction. "Perfect for all eternity. Welcome, Draco, to the life you were destined for, the life of a vampire!"

"What have you done?" Draco asked coldly. "For Merlin's sake, what have you done?"

FIN


End file.
